Quest cohort program 2027-28

Application guide

About the Quest cohort program

The Quest cohort program is our continuous quality improvement initiative for child and youth mental health and addictions agencies (CYMHA). It is intended for agencies that receive funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health to deliver CYMHA services.

In this program, project teams benefit from quality improvement (QI) capacity-building opportunities through training and the application of the Lean Six Sigma QI methodology. The goals of the Quest cohort program are to coach agencies and provide them with tools to make improvements to a care pathway and to embed a QI culture within their teams and organizations. Quest coaching supports and events are delivered in English; our program resources are available in English and French.

Important information about the application

Applications can be submitted between Monday, October 19 and Monday, November 16, 2026, 4:00 p.m. (EST).
Late or incomplete applications will not be considered. All sections of the application form, for example, general information, project planning and commitment statement, must be completed and submitted through REDCap.
The Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions (Knowledge Institute) will notify all applicants by Monday, January 11, 2027, 4:00 p.m. (EST) on whether they have been selected to participate in the program. Successful applicants will be required to sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) before the program officially begins in February 2027.

Quality improvement for care pathways

Quality Improvement (QI) is a systematic approach using robust tools and techniques to make changes and improve outcomes for the client, family, service provider and system. Using QI frameworks such as Lean Six Sigma enables us to take a collaborative and methodical approach to examine organizational or cross-organizational processes in detail, and optimize and ensure value for partners, including infants, children, young people, families and service providers. Quest is designed to provide QI capacity-building opportunities within child and youth mental health and addictions organizations. Given the focus on care pathways, multi-agency and/or cross-sectoral projects are encouraged to apply.

The theme of the sixth cohort of Quest will be care pathways.

A care pathway:

  • guides infants, children, young people and families to, through and out of care.
  • ensures that families get the right service at the right time and in the right modality to best meet their needs.
  • Contributes to a high-quality child and youth mental health and addictions system that achieves the six domains of quality: effective, efficient, client-centered, safe, timely and equitable (Health Quality Ontario, 2015). It reflects coordination between multiple providers and creates better continuity of care.

What makes a good care pathway improvement project?

  • Issues within an organization’s care pathways or care pathways between multiple providers that impact clients or staff.
  • Existing issues that do not yet have an identified solution.
  • Challenges such as repeat errors, issues matching clients to the appropriate service, duplication of work, excess waiting or the capacity of the process to meet the demands.
  • Links to the six dimensions of quality in healthcare that are listed above.

QI projects relating to care pathways can include clinical issues, such as intake, waitlists, discharge and integrated services between care providers across sectors (e.g. primary care, educational settings, hospitals and community mental health centres). The projects can be identified through the implementation of quality standards or involvement in various provincial initiatives (e.g. Right time, right care).

Some examples include: 

  • An agency receives feedback from clients that the intake process takes too long. The agency would like to reduce the time it takes to navigate its intake process.
  • An agency observes redundancies and inconsistencies when clients are accessing services through their walk-in clinic. They would like to streamline this process to make it more efficient. 
  • An agency hears that the process of transitioning clients into school-based mental health programs is confusing. They would like to improve the consistency and transparency of their process for clients and staff and/or they would like to clarify and streamline the process.
  • Through client perceptions of care surveys and clinician feedback, an organization hears that they could better align services with client needs. The organization would like to explore this further and make improvements where possible.

Program description

12-month project - Changes that can lead to big improvements: improving care pathways across the child and youth mental health and addictions sector

For our sixth cohort, we will be supporting projects that will benefit from up to 12-months of support.

What it is

Larger scale projects focusing on making improvements to care pathways within any team(s) across your organization or with partners.

The 12-month time span allows for bringing together the project team, understanding the current state, identifying root causes, and prioritizing and selecting changes that will lead to improvements.

Project length

Up to 12 months
From February 2027 – February 2028

Program features

This program is best for:

  • Larger QI projects or projects that require partnerships with other organizations or sectors.
  • Projects involving engagement with a broad range of key partners including staff, clients and board members, or agencies within the community, including, school boards, hospitals, youth justice and police.

Project resources

The project team will use the 12-month time frame to dedicate the personnel, time, and team commitment required to actively advance the improvement project.

As a general guide, team members should anticipate an average commitment of approximately 4 hours per month throughout the 12-month project, including, but not limited to, Quest coaching sessions, internal team meetings and project work between sessions. Actual time will vary depending on the project and the team member’s role. *

*Time commitment will be higher for the project lead due to additional responsibilities related to project management, coordination, session preparation and facilitation.

Quest support

  • Tailored, team-based QI and data coaching support.
  • A fulsome inventory of QI tools and resources.
  • Lean Six Sigma (LSS) White Belt training and certification available for the core team members or other relevant staff who have no previous LSS training.
  • Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Yellow Belt training and certification provided to the core team members.
  • Knowledge mobilization events.
  • Access to an organizational QI maturity assessment.

Eligibility criteria

Eligible applicants must:

  • be an Ontario Ministry of Health-funded child and youth mental health and addictions organization (core service provider or lead agency).
  • not be receiving any other external support for the proposed QI project and QI culture work.

Selection process and criteria

Applications will be evaluated by a committee comprised of Knowledge Institute team members and young people and/or family members based on:

  • Relevance to quality improvement.
    • demonstration of potential for improvement to an existing issue
    • clear linkage to the theme of care pathways
  • Feasibility of the project.
    • clear description of the opportunity/issue
    • demonstration of ownership, control and influence over the process needing improvement
    • demonstration of leadership and project team buy-in and commitment
    • consideration of staff or other resources available to dedicate to the project
    • consideration for and commitment to partner involvement, including staff, young people, families or caregivers
    • appropriate scale of the project* (opportunities identified appropriate for 12-month projects)
      *Note: QI coaches will support final project scoping during the initial phases of the program.
  • Potential impact of the project.
    • highlight of the potential impact on staff, partners (if relevant), children, young people and their families or caregivers (as appropriate). This includes the potential for spread and scale.

If there is a high volume of eligible applications, the review committee will include additional criteria in their decision-making to ensure equitable access to the Quest cohort program, including:

  • Geographic diversity across the province of Ontario.
  • Diversity of agency sizes and settings.
  • Diversity of agencies with higher and lower levels of experience in QI.
  • Previous participation in Quest or active participation in other Knowledge Institute grants.

Available funding

Agencies participating in Quest will receive funding from the Knowledge Institute, up to $20,000
for each project. Funds need to be spent during the Quest program period, from February 2027 to February 2028.

Eligible budget items

  • Backfill or salary for member(s) of the project team. High-level estimate of backfill or salary costs of the project team (i.e. total team member hours on project * average hourly rate).
  • Meeting expenses related to the improvement project. For example, meeting room bookings, travel and mileage or catering.
  • Knowledge mobilization activities. For example, presenting your QI project at a quality conference, cost of producing a poster or registration for the conference.
  • Administrative costs associated with the project. For example, photocopying, printing or purchasing of supplies.
  • List specific items (Up to a maximum of 10% of the total budget).
  • Other eligible expenses:
    • Computer software required for the QI project. For example, Zoom virtual meeting licenses, data dashboard software.
    • Honoraria for clients, young people or family members participating in the project team or who are involved in select activities as key partners.
    • Expenses related to any additional Lean Six Sigma belt certification or other QI training for team members.
    • QI resources and materials such as books.

Non-eligible budget items

  • Funds to offset budget shortfalls or for general operations.
  • Salary for staff members who aren’t members of the project team.
  • Computer hardware and other electronics. For example, computers, laptops, mobile devices and tablets.

Contact information

If you have any questions, please contact Blake Davey, Manager, Quality and Performance at Quest@cymha.ca

Example of a project planning form

We hope this fictitious example will help you to develop your project planning form.

Project planning form

Project title: Improving the registration process at YOW Centre

Project details

Executive lead/Project sponsor: Thomas (Director of Quality and Operations)

Project lead: Alina (Director of Clinical services)

Team members (should be those involved in the designated process, those who provide a specific skill to the project, other key partners as appropriate, etc.): Christine (Director), Antoine (Manager), Jennifer (Clerk), Alfred (Clinician), Vanessa (Youth advisor/client), William (IT specialist)

Opportunity or challenge: An opportunity statement is a clear description of an area of concern that exists in the agency that the project is looking to address.

Questions

Describe the opportunity within care pathways that you wish to work on.

  • Response: To improve the registration process for clients who enter services at our agency.

What is the key issue that made you initiate this project? Who is the owner of this process (e.g. do you have control/ influence over process)?

  • Response: Our newly integrated program structure has resulted in our registration and entry forms being duplicated as clients make their way from one program to another.

Yes, the administration team at our agency has control over client registration across programs.

  • Response: Who is the owner of this process (e.g. do you have control/ influence over process)?

Goal: A goal statement is a concise summary of what a project team hopes to achieve over a specific timeframe.

Questions

What would be the benefit of addressing the issue (potential outcomes)?

  • Response: The goal of this project is to improve the efficiency of the registration process and reduce duplicate information requests for clients who enter services at our agency. By making improvements to the process, clients will only provide their information once, clerks will save time by entering the information once and clinicians will have the information they need in one place.

Why is it important to make an improvement in this area now?

  • Response: Improving the client registration and program admission processes now will improve the effectiveness and efficiency for everyone involved. As new programs are added, and we establish new partnerships with other agencies, having efficient record keeping procedures is vital to our continued success. A simpler, more efficient client and staff experience will be beneficial to all involved.

How will this improvement impact your partners, staff, clients and their families?

  • Response: Clients and their families will be less frustrated as they will not have to repeat their story multiple times given less repetitive forms. Staff will be less frustrated in their work and save valuable time. Our senior leadership will appreciate seeing improvements for our clients as well as increased staff satisfaction.

How do you plan to engage your key partners, staff, young people, families and community partners?

  • Response: We have a youth and family advisory committee that could help with getting the client perspective through one-on-one interviews and/or focus groups as well as surveys if required. We will also have a young person involved as part of our core team. Key partners and staff will be involved in the core team or consulted as needed.

How do you plan to mobilize knowledge and findings from the improvement project.

  • Response: We plan to mobilize our learning by integrating it into our ongoing practices and sharing it widely within and beyond our organization. Internally, we will ensure that staff are trained in QI and incorporating these practices into their work. Externally, we aim to share insights through case studies, and partnerships with other agencies.
Data capacity and availability

Do you have data to inform the project?

  • Response: Yes, we have data to inform the project. This includes historical registration data such as the average time it takes to complete the registration process, feedback from clients and staff. We can also gather qualitative insights from surveys or focus groups with clients and staff to better understand their needs and expectations.

If so, please provide examples of the sources of data that will inform your project (e.g. dashboard, internal or external sources, surveys, or a mixture)

  • Response: We use a mixture of data sources to inform our project. This includes metrics from dashboards that track registration timelines, and survey data collected directly from clients.

Do you have anyone on your team that can help identify, analyze and visualize the data necessary for the project or would you require additional support?

  • Response: We have 0.5 FTE support for data analysis. We would need assistance with how to measure an improvement/change in the registration process from baseline.